


Sharpened senses

by smilodonna



Category: Hannibal Extended Universe - Fandom, King Arthur (2004)
Genre: Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Newborn animal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 05:40:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11224467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smilodonna/pseuds/smilodonna
Summary: Galahad notices something has changed between him and Tristan. He is confused.





	Sharpened senses

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo. This is the first fic I publish. Something cute and harmless for starters... *bites nails* *smiles awkwardly*  
> As I'm not a native speaker, I would be thankful for any corrections you may want to make. Hope there won't be so many necessary - I tried my best...  
> Oh, and if you think more tags would be helpful - please tell me. The "first kiss" tag is only there because I wanted to warn people who don't want to read kissing scenes. It's not a very elaborate scene, I'm still learning...  
> Well - I hope you have fun reading the story...

Galahad fought back the excited giggling that wanted to rise in his throat. He had finally managed it! It had been such a long time, he couldn't even remember when he had started to try to sneak up on Tristan -the latter always, always noticing him long before he could approximate him even remotely. It had become their game whenever they could find the time for it between the recurring hard battles against the Woads.  
And now, Galahad crouched behind a bush and peeked through the branches at Tristan who stood just two steps away feeding his hawk after a practice lesson, obviously not noticing the observant. The big grin on the younger man's face turned to a soft smile as he continued watching. He had never seen his fellow knight so relaxed and happy. There was such a gentle expression on Tristan's face as he murmured tender words to the bird, and Galahad suddenly had a warm feeling somewhere in his chest.  
But at that moment, Tristan carefully seated the hawk on a pole and Galahad heard him say in his usual calm voice: "Now you must excuse me, pretty one, Galahad has been too polite to interrupt our conversation, I think he has waited long enough by now."  
The mentioned felt his stomach clench, but he got out of the bush, laughing his embarrassment away. "You are insufferable. How did you notice me again?"  
Tristan smirked only a little, then answered smoothly: "You have your back to the wind."  
Galahad snorted. "Come on. I don't smell that bad."  
"We can agree on that. I just know your scent by now. As I know the sound of your steps."  
"But I didn't make any sound!"  
Tristan just tilted his head and looked at the other man steadily. "Didn't you?"  
Galahad turned his face away for a moment. He had no chance in this game. "Anyway, I had a reason for coming here other than trying to sneak up on a wizard with some kind of demonic senses." he said, looking at Tristan again. "The red mare has her foal now, Vanora helped and all the kids watched. Vanora told me she would not have believed it if anybody had told her that the whole lot could stay that silent for so long. Three of them came to me afterwards, all loud and exuberant again of course, dragged me to the stable and went out to run about again. The foal is such a cutie, you should come and look, too. All black except for a white spot just above its left eye. And those eyelashes, and the soft, curly fur... Yeah, that's how they come, right? But still I think I haven't seen such beauty in my life before - every time again..."  
Galahad's voice trailed off a little, and he dropped his eyes. What had got into him, that he had shown Tristan his weak spot so frankly? He felt embarrassed again, for at least the second time within minutes.  
"Sure I'll come to see this little beauty." Tristan's voice seemed a little deeper than usual. "Is it a boy or a girl?"  
"I don't know. Does it matter? It is fit as a fiddle, and the mother as well. That's what's important for now, I think."  
"And the eyelashes."  
"Bugger."  
Tristan chuckled. "Sure. Now show me."

They watched as the foal stood up for the first time, as its mother gently pushed it towards her udder, as it drank, its little head pushing when the milk didn't flow fast enough for its taste, and its tail wagging all the time. Galahad was enravished. After a while, he turned his head to look at Tristan, only to find the latter's gaze dwelling on him instead of the enchanting scene before them. Blushing, he turned his eyes towards the foal again. He felt strangely lightheaded. Something had changed between the two of them, and he didn't know if he liked it or not. He couldn't even put the finger on what exactly had changed. If only he could get the swirling thoughts in his mind to calm down for a moment so that he could look at them one by one. But there was this bewildering feeling in his stomach that claimed his attention, together with the conflicting urges to move closer to Tristan and at the same time to run away and hide from these eyes. And still, he somehow felt more alive than he had before. Before what?  
Tristan's voice interrupted his feeble attempts at thinking. "I'm going now. Thanks for showing this to me."  
"But you didn't even look properly!" Galahad blurted out.  
Tristan smiled with his eyes. "Trust me, I did."  
And with this, he turned and walked out of the stable.  
Galahad stared at his straight back and let out a sigh. Too late, he realized that Tristan must have heard him, with this eeriely accurate ear of his. Although the scout gave no sign of it, of course...

During the next days, Galahad tried to act normal and failed gloriously. He seemed to blush each time Tristan spoke, or looked at him, or moved his hands, or breathed. At least, the scout pretended not to notice, making his usual inscrutable face. Finally, Galahad started to avoid him completely whenever possible, attempting to sort his feelings out on his own.  
He longed for Tristan, he could avoid this realization less and less as the days passed. And the nights. More than once, he woke up with the blurred remains of a dream that had brought the two of them closer again. He could not remember any details, he just felt as if Tristan had been there with him only a second ago, and had now gone and been replaced by cold air. And Galahad did not know how to deal with his yearning.  
Did Tristan feel something similar? And what if? What if not? There were so many little bonds between them that had grown over the years, he realized now, their sneak-up-game being just one of them. He didn't want to lose all of this because of some strange urge that had overcome him these days and would hopefully go away soon.  
But it didn't. And he could not avoid Tristan forever. He was running out of excuses why he had to practice fighting with Gawain instead of the one he had always practiced with. And there could be another battle any time again, or Arthur could send Tristan to scout on the Woads - alone, or together with Galahad, as he had done more and more in the recent past. Galahad was not sure which option he dreaded more.  
Anyway, he had to talk to Tristan again. And although he didn't even know what he wanted to tell him, he went to look for him. He had no clearer thought in mind than the wish to end this state of brooding and constant tension.

He found Tristan behind the stables with one of Vanora's and Bors' kids. Obviously, the boy had hurt his knee and Tristan had cleaned the wound and now helped him to wipe the traces of tears from his face. The boys were always so afraid of being seen as weak, and sometimes Galahad hated Bors for this.  
He felt a tug at his heart as he watched the scout caring for the child. The boy now turned to leave and only then noticed the approaching knight. He drew himself up to his full height of four feet in front of Galahad and threatened him: "You tell my dad anything about it - I'll kick you in the balls!"  
Galahad just raised his eyebrows. "Tell him about what?"  
The kid grinned. "You're nice. And Tristan is, too, did you know that?"  
Galahad felt himself blush again, but he answered honestly: "I think I've always known, but I didn't fully realize it until a couple of days ago."  
The boy tilted his head, considering. "He hides it most of the time, huh?" he said, then shouted "Coming!" at his siblings calling him from somewhere at the other side of the stables.  
Galahad watched him run away, then turned to Tristan, smiling awkwardly.  
"Couple of days, huh?" the scout repeated with a calm voice, standing up slowly. "The day the foal was born and you told me it didn't matter if it was a boy or a girl? The day your face all but glowed with admiration for that little wonder? For that was the day" he started walking towards Galahad slowly, his steps matching the rhythm of his speech, "that I realized you were not only nice, but charming. Endearing. Alluring."  
He was so close now that Galahad could feel the warmth of his body, but they still didn't touch. Galahad stood rooted to the spot with his heart racing almost painfully. He was barely able to breath, let alone move a finger. Then Tristan leant forward and whispered into his ear: "Galahad. I want you to kiss me."  
This broke the freezing spell on the younger knight, and he closed what little distance there was left between the two of them, finally touching the man he had been yearning for so badly. They kissed hungrily and yet tenderly, Galahad caressing Tristan's strong back, and Tristan holding Galahad tight with one hand and affectionately stroking through his curls with the other. Soon, both of them were moaning softly and clinging to each other more strongly. Their kiss grew more and more fervent, their bodies pressed together firmly.  
Galahad felt like going on like this forever, but eventually the other man broke the kiss and tilted his head backwards a little, so they could look into each other's eyes. There was such a fond smile on Tristan's face now that Galahad just had to smile back and caress the scout's face with all the tenderness he was capable of. Tristan closed his eyes, still smiling rapturously, and brought Galahad's hand to his lips, to kiss every single finger with care and devotion. As he drew a sigh from Galahad that way, Tristan looked at him again.  
"Let's go visit the foal" he suggested softly. "I want to thank them."


End file.
